You're About to be Redirected to the New Home of Ground Control to Major Mom: Colorado Discoveries: Part 3 -- YMCA of the Rockies and Dunraven Inn

After our day in Golden, we made our way up into the mountains towards our next stop: Estes Park!

Dave had been to the mountains in Colorado before, but I never had. I'd only been TDY to Boulder and Louisville, CO for a meeting. And there was no sightseeing on that trip!

Anyway, the drive from Golden to Estes Park was magnificent. North to Boulder, then northwest into Estes Park. So beautiful!

We had booked a "Military Getaway" package at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. Two nights in their newest lodge plus meals at their dining hall for $179. Considering all the other things in Estes Park, from cabins to beds and breakfasts to lodges, were $150+ per night, this was a welcome deal. I knew that the Y's lodge rooms were "simple" and the dining hall was on the order of a college dining hall. When we entered the compound, we were in awe of how beautiful it all was!

From 2010 08 08 YMCA of the Rockies

We stayed in the Longs Peak Lodge:

From 2010 08 08 YMCA of the Rockies

I'm going to include some other pictures from the Y visit here, even though they're appearing in another blog post. We enjoyed seeing grazing elk on the compound:

From 2010 08 11 Colorado Trip Last 2 days

And we also enjoyed the arts and crafts center at the Y, Timmy and I did tie-dyeing and some mosaic art:

From 2010 08 11 Colorado Trip Last 2 days

For dinner on the first night we left the compound and tried out a restaurant our friend Adam had recommended, the Dunraven Inn right up the street. There was a wait for a table so we checked out a creek across the street:

From 2010 08 08 YMCA of the Rockies

The Dunraven Inn was so much fun! When you walk in, this is what greets you:

From 2010 08 08 Dunnraven Inn

All we have to do is decorate a dollar bill with the markers they provide you, and the maître d' hands you a stapler to tack it to the wall. The boys wasted no time!

From 2010 08 08 Dunnraven Inn

I wrote the date and "Bellevue, Nebraska", and the boys did the rest:

From 2010 08 08 Dunnraven Inn

After dinner (which was really really good and had HUGE portions), Dave worked on one:

From 2010 08 08 Dunnraven Inn

He stapled it to a primo location just above the maître d's station. And in typical Penn State Alumni fashion -- a party of 5 PSU alumni were the very next guests coming in and noticed Dave's bill right away. I am NOT making this up!